Weinstein's influence kept media silent

It was the media that toppled Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein secured his influence and power by creating a huge partnership with high-placed media people, report Jason Cherkis and Maxwell Strachan of The Huffington Post. Variety magazine’s editor was one of many that were close to him. Over the years, this resulted in negative stories about Weinstein being censored or pulled entirely. He understood Hollywood and the entertainment industry very well. Weinstein made himself indispensable to the media by making a spectacle of the Oscars as well as spending huge sums on advertising. His work increased the profits of many outlets, resulting in them looking the other way when it mattered.

Right wing criticism of mainstream media regarding Harvey Weinstein ignores that no one, themselves included, knew enough to uncover his abuses, infers Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic. When The New York Times and New Yorker published the stories that started Weinstein’s downfall they risked being sued for millions. These publications’ journalistic quality and hard work finally revealed the abuses that no one else had managed to. Conservative media outlets that have victim-blamed and -shamed women for coming forward while covering up their own sex scandals are hypocritical to attack mainstream media over its apparent silence.